Direct Tax Collections for F.Y. 2017 - 2018 show Growth of 18.7 % up to 15th January, 2018

The provisional figures of Direct Tax collections up to15th January, 2018

show that net collections are at Rs. 6.89 lakh crore which is 18.7% higher than the net collections for the corresponding period of last year. 

The net Direct Tax collections represent 70.3% of the total Budget Estimates of Direct Taxes for F.Y. 2017-18 (Rs.9.8 lakh crore). 

Gross collections (before adjusting for refunds) have increased by 13.5% to Rs.8.11 lakh crore during April, 2017 to 15th January, 2018. 

Refunds amounting to Rs.1.22 lakh crore have been issued during April, 2017 to15th January, 2018.

CBDT clarification for Aadhar PAN compulsion

PRESS RELEASE New Delhi,10th June, 2017.

SUPREME COURT JUDGEMENT ON AADHAR - PAN LINKAGE

1.Honourable Supreme Court in its landmark judgement has upheld section 139AA of the Income Tax Act as constitutionally valid which required quoting of the Aadhaar number in applying for PAN as well as or filing of income tax returns.

2.The Court also held that the “Parliament was fully competent to enact Section 139AA of the Act and its authority to make this law was not diluted by the orders of this Court.”Therefore, no violation of the earlier Supreme Court orders were found in enacting the provision.

3.The Court has also held that section 139AA of the Act is not discriminatory nor it offends equality clause enshrined in Article 14 of the Constitution.

4.Section 139AA is also not violative of Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution in so far as it mandates giving of Aadhaar number for applying PAN and in the income tax returns and linking PAN with Aadhaar number.

5.Section 39AA(1) of the IncomeTax Act as introduced by the Finance Act, 017 provides for mandatory quoting of Aadhaar/Enrolment ID of adhaar application form, for filing of return of income and for making an application for allotment of PAN with effect from 1stJuly, 2017.

6.Section 139AA(2) of the Income Tax Act provides that every person who has been allotted PAN as on the 1stday of July, 2017, and who is eligible to obtain Aadhaar, shall intimate his Aadhaar on or before a date to be notified by the Central Government. The proviso to section 39AA(2) provides that in case of non-intimation of Aadhaar, the PAN allotted to the person shall be deemed to be invalid from a date to be notified by the Central Government.

7.The Supreme Court has upheld section 139AA(1) which mandatorily requires quoting of Aadhaar for new PAN applications as well as for filing of returns.

Received notice from Income tax Department: Compliance of Non-filers Monitoring System (NMS) for AY 2015-16

Many of the taxpayers have recently received by email and/or post the following notice:

Compliance of Non-filers Monitoring System (NMS) for AY 2015-16 PAN:

Dear Taxpayer,

  As per our records, it is observed that you have not filed your Income Tax Return for Assessment Year 2015-16. Please submit your online response as under:

Step 1: Login to e-filing portal	Login to e-filing portal at https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in
Step 2: View Information summary	Information summary can be viewed under compliance section on the portal. Mention if the information relates to other PAN
Step 3: Upload Return or submit details	Upload the return on e-filing portal after paying due taxes. If return is already filed, submit details under 'Filing of Income tax return' under compliance section. You may keep the printout of submitted response for record.

 Non-filers with potential tax liabilities are identified and monitored under Non-filers Monitoring System (NMS). A "Step by Step Guide" for NMS is also available for detailed guidance on the e-filing portal home page under the 'Help' section. If you need any assistance in submitting the response, please call the e-filing toll free number 1800 4250 0025 or send an email on nms@incometax.gov.in.

Regards,
e-filing Team for Compliance Management Cell
Income Tax Department
___________________________________________________________________________________

Q. Why have I received the above notice?
 A. The notice is received only because you have not filed your Income tax Return for FY 2014-15 till date. Since, the last due date (belated) to file such pending Return is fast approaching (31.03.2017), the Department proactively have sent a reminder to all such taxpayers.

Q. What do I need to do?
A. You need to calculate your tax liability and file the Income tax Return immediately. Failure to file an Income tax Return may expose you to penalty. Meanwhile, you can log in in your efiling portal and under Dashboard you'll see the pending compliances part. These pending compliance shall include the above mentioned notice. You need to click on the appropriate response which will be 'already filed the Return', 'not yet filed the Return', 'In the process of filing the Return' etc.

CA Niraj Mahajan, Pune
nirajdmahajan@gmail.com 

Tax implication of Sale of Indian Residential propertyn by a NRI (Non Resident Indian)

Ive experienced many aspects of Sale of Residential property in India by a NRI.
Since its a long time held property, Long Term Capital Gain tax would be applicable. This can be calculated using Indexed cost of acquisition. Valuation needs to be done as on 01.04.1981 if your original purchase date is before 01.04.1981
Now, the tricky part. Since you are a NRI, the payment made to you will attract 20% TDS (Tax Deducted at Source) rate plus cess 3% on 20%. Thus effective rate of TDS will be 20.6% ON THE SALE AMOUNT!
So, if you sell a property for Rs.1,00,00,000 then the buyer needs to deduct Rs.20,60,000 and deposit with Government on your behalf. So, your considerable amount is lying with Govt. Lets say if your actual tax liability is only Rs.5,00,000 , then adjusting the TDS already done , your Rs.15,60,000 (20.6 - 5) is still lying with Dept. This Refund of Rs.15.6 lacs you can claim only by filing an Income tax Return whose due date is couple of months after end of Financial Year. Imagine your money locked up unnecessarily whereas you can do/invest in better options.
The way out is you need to approach your Tax officer to grant relief by reducing TDS rate from 20.6% to bare minimum possible say 1% or so.
You can claim exemption from Long Term Capital Gains if you reinvest the gains in another house property. However most of the NRIs dont do that and repatriate the funds at their location.
Other way to save tax is Invest in Capital Gain Bonds which has 3 year lock in period. You need to invest only the Gain amount and not full sale amount. The Bonds also gives you a payout of around 6%pa interest. The maximum an individual can invest in these bonds are Rs.50 lacs. Thus, if your Gain amount is Rs. 30 lacs and invest in Bonds Rs. 30 lacs you dont pay any tax.
Hope this gives you some idea about Sale of Property in India by a NRI.
Feel free to get in touch if you still have queries.
Cheers,
CA Niraj Mahajan, Pune
nirajdmahajan@gmail.com



www.indiantaxblog.blogspot.in

CBDT committed to Strict Confidentiality under Income Declaration Scheme 2016

While announcing the results of the Income Declaration Scheme 2016 on 1st October, 2016 at a press conference in Delhi, the Honourable Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley stressed that no break-up of these declarations on the basis of trades / cities / states shall be released in order to ensure absolute secrecy with respect to the identity of the declarants.

CBDT clarifies that no official list of region wise declarations has been issued. The Income Tax Department is committed to maintaining strict confidentiality of declarations made under the Income Declaration Scheme 2016. CBDT requests the general public not to pay any heed to such fraudulent messages circulating on social media.

Income Declaration Scheme 2016 unearths Rs.65250 Crore

The Income Declaration Scheme, 2016 came into effect from 1st June, 2016. It provided an opportunity to persons who had not paid full taxes in the past to come forward and declare their domestic undisclosed income and assets. Declarations could be made online as well in printed copies of the prescribed form up to midnight on 30th September, 2016. In order to facilitate the taxpayers and to spread awareness about the Scheme, the CBDT issued a number of FAQs to address various queries received. 
Major issues clarified included manner of declaration of fictitious liability, allowance of cost indexation and holding period benefit for registered immovable property, sanctity of valuation report etc. Difficulties with respect to payment of taxes in a short span were removed by permitting payment of tax in 3 instalments, the last being in September 2017. Absolute confidentiality of the declarations made was promised under the scheme to reassure the declarants. An appeal was made by the Honourable Prime Minister of India to the general public to come clean on taxes due. The FM personally addressed stakeholders at many stations. 

Finance Minister conveys Government’s Appreciation to tax payers for their contribution towards Nation building

Finance Minister conveys Government’s Appreciation to tax payers for their contribution towards Nation building. 

The Government acknowledges the contribution of individual tax payers in paying taxes within the prescribed time and prompt filing of Income Tax Returns. 
The Honourable Finance Minister, Shri Arun Jaitley today handed over certificates of appreciation issued by CBDT honoring select tax payers for such contribution. While it is widely acknowledged that the Nation meets its obligations towards spending in various social sector and welfare schemes and infrastructure development out of revenues mobilized through tax payments by millions of honest tax payers, this step marks the first effort by the Government to directly communicate to the tax payer its appreciation for that contribution.

CBDT will be sending out such certificates of appreciation to individual tax payers by e-mail in various categories on the basis of the level of taxes paid by them for the current Assessment Year 2016-17 where taxes have been paid in full and tax payers have no outstanding tax liabilities and where the return is e-filed within the prescribed due date. The tax payers may display these certificates in their homes / offices. 
The categories for individual taxpayers and the number of certificates being issued in the first round are: 
i. Platinum : Tax contributed Rs. 1 Crore and above 
ii. Gold : Tax contributed Rs. 50Lakh to Rs. 1 Crore 
iii. Silver : Tax contributed Rs. 10Lakh to Rs.50 Lakh 
iv. Bronze : Tax contributed Rs. 1Lakh to Rs.10 Lakh 

The CBDT urges taxpayers to e-file their returns in time and verify their return by submitting the Electronic Verification Code online or sending their ITR-V within the 120 day period so that they can be also acknowledged for their contribution. The Department is committed to continuous improvement of taxpayer services and seeks the cooperation of all taxpayers in contributing their fair share of taxes voluntarily.

CBDT Extends due date for filing of Income Tax Returns to 17.10.2016

The due date for filing of Income tax returns by tax payers whose accounts are
required to be audited under the Income Tax Act is the 30th September of the
following year. The tax payers whose business receipts exceed Rupees One Crore or professional receipts exceed Rupees twenty-five Lakh during the previous year
2015-16 are required to file an Income Tax return accompanied by an audit report
by the above mentioned due date.
 
However, taking into consideration that the last date for making declarations
under the Income Declaration Scheme 2016 is also 30th September, 2016, the
Central Board of Direct Taxes has decided to extend the last date for such returns which were due on 30th September, 2016 to 17th October, 2016 in order to remove
inconvenience and to facilitate ease of compliance.

 - CBDT Press Release

The Income Declaration Scheme, 2016- Instructions by RBI to banks to accept cash deposits

The Income Declaration Scheme, 2016 provides an opportunity to persons who have not paid full taxes in the past to come forward and declare their undisclosed income and assets. The Scheme has come into effect from 1.6.2016 and is open for declarations upto 30.9.2016. In respect of the issue of deposit of cash declared under the Scheme, the Central Board of Direct Taxes vide Circular No.29 of 2016 dated 18.8.2016 clarified that Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been requested to issue instructions to banks to allow payment of tax under the Scheme in cash and to allow deposit of cash over the counter.
 
The RBI has vide its circular dated 08.09.2016 instructed the banks to invariably accept cash deposits from all the declarants under the Scheme and to accept cash deposits, irrespective of amount, over the counters, for making payment under the Scheme through challan ITNS-286. The relevant circular of RBI is available on the departmental website
www.incometaxindia.gov.in

 - CBDT Press Release

Direct Tax Collections up to August, 2016 show an Increase of 15.03%

The figures for direct tax collections up to August, 2016 show that net revenue
collections are at Rs. 1.89 lakh crore which is 15.03% more than the net collections for the corresponding period last year. Till August 2016, 22.30% of the Budget Estimates of direct taxes for Financial Year 2016-17 has been achieved.
 
As regards the growth rates for Corporate Income Tax (CIT) and Personal
Income Tax (PIT), in terms of gross revenue collections, the growth rate under CIT is 11.55% while that under PIT (including STT etc.) is 24.06%. However, after
adjusting for refunds, the net growth in CIT collections is (-)1.89% while that in PIT collections is 31.76%. Refunds amounting to Rs. 77,080 crore have been issued during April-August, 2016, which is 22.18% higher than the refunds issued during the corresponding period last year.
 - CBDT Press Release

Paperless application of PAN and TAN introduced

Ease of Doing Business – Paperless PAN & TAN application process.
 
For fast tracking the allotment of PAN and TAN to company applicants,
Digital Signature Certificate(DSC) based application procedure has been
introduced on the portals of PAN service providers M/s NSDL eGov and M/s
UTIITSL. Under the new process PAN and TAN will be allotted within one
day after completion of valid on-line application.

Similarly, a new Aadhaar e-Signature based application process for
Individual PAN applicants has been made available on the portals of PAN
service providers M/s NSDL eGov.

The URL links for the above applications are available in ‘important
links’ on the homepage of the departmental website ‘incometaxindia.gov.in’.
Introduction of Aadhaar based e-Signature through M/s NSDL eGov in
PAN application not only ensures paperless hassle free PAN application process
but also seeding of Aadhaar in PAN which will curb the problem of duplicate
PAN to a great extent.

Increase in Efiling of Income tax Returns

Surging growth in Electronic filing of Income Tax Returns for F.Y. 16-17

 The facility of e-verification of IT returns has been used by over 75.3 Lakh taxpayers till 5th August, 2016 as compared to 32.95 Lakh taxpayers last year till 7th September 2015. Of these Aadhar based E- verification was used by 17.68 lakh taxpayers during the current year as against 10.41 lakh taxpayers during the same period in 2015-16. In addition to these, 3.32 Lakh returns were digitally signed. Thus, over 35% of taxpayers have already completed the entire process of Return submission electronically. 

The Department encourages all taxpayers who have submitted their ITRs to use the e-verification as an easy alternative to sending their ITR-V form to CPC, Bengaluru. As on 5th August 2016, over 226.98 Lakh e-returns had been filed in F.Y. 2016-17 as compared to 70.97 Lakh for the same period in FY 2015-16. The growth is over 9.8% even if comparison is made with E-returns filed of 206.55 Lakh as on 7th September 2015 (the extended due date in FY 2015-16) which is for a period more than a month later. 

Taxpayers have appreciated the early processing of Income Tax Returns by CPC Bangalore last year. Keeping the same momentum, the CPC Bengaluru has already issued over 54.35 Lakh refunds totaling to Rs 14,332 Cr which includes 20.81 Lakh refunds for AY 2016-17 (current year returns) totaling to Rs 2,922 Cr till 5th August 2016. 

The Department is committed to continuous improvement of taxpayer services and seeks the cooperation of all taxpayers in contributing their fair share of taxes voluntarily.

Income Tax Department to issue 7 lakh letters seeking Information in respect of High Value Transactions

Under the Annual Information Returns (AIR), various types of high-value transactions were being reported to the Income Tax Department. These include reporting of cash deposits of Rs.10,00,000 or more in a saving bank account, sale/purchase of immovable property valued at Rs. 30,00,000 or more, etc. 

Many of these transactions do not have PAN linked to it. The Department has details of about 90 lakh such transactions for the period 2009-10 to 2016-17. The Income Tax Department has with the help of in-house computer techniques, grouped such non-PAN transactions and identified 7 lakh high-risk clusters having around 14 lakh non-PAN transactions which are being scrutinized by the Income Tax Department closely. The Department will be issuing letters to the parties of these transactions requesting them to provide their PAN number against these transactions. 

Income Tax Department signs contract with L & T Infotech Ltd for implementation of Project Insight

In the last decade, the Income Tax Department embarked on an ambitious computerization plan which developed voluminous databases of IT returns, IT forms, TDS/TCS statements, Annual Information Return (AIR) etc. The large volumes of data necessitated development of a comprehensive platform for effective utilization of information. The Department initiated Project Insight to strengthen the non–intrusive information driven approach for improving tax compliance and effective utilization of information in tax administration.
 
The Income Tax Department has today signed a contract with L & T Infotech Ltd for implementation of Project Insight. The Project will be rolled out in three phases and the first phase is expected to go live in May 2017. 

This integrated platform would play a key role in widening of tax-base and data mining to track tax evaders. The new technical infrastructure will also be leveraged for implementation of Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act Inter Governmental A

Direct Tax Collection upto June, 2016 shows an Increase of 24.79%

The figures for direct tax collection upto June, 2016 indicates net revenue
collection of Rs.1.24 lakh crore which is a growth of 24.79% over the
corresponding period last year. The main reason for this increase is the change in the requirements for advance tax payment even in respect of individuals which has been made in the last year’s Budget. Earlier there were only three instalments of advance tax to be paid by individuals in the months of September, December and March. From the current year, individuals are also supposed to pay four instalments of advance tax at the rate of 15%, 30%, 30% and 25% in the months of June, September, December and March of every Financial Year. The collection upto June, 2016 indicates that 14.63% of the annual budget target of direct taxes has been achieved in the first three months of the F.Y. 2016-17.
 
In terms of growth rate for corporation tax and personal income tax, the trend in gross revenue of corporation tax is indicating an increase of 13.5% while that of personal income tax (including STT etc.) a growth of 29.8%. However, after adjusting for refunds, the net growth in corporation tax is at 4.43% while that of personal income tax (including STT etc.) at 48.75%.

All you need to know about Exclusions in Your Health Insurance Policy?

Claim rejection is the most disappointing subject in a policy holder’s life. The customer starts loosing trust in the company and feels betrayed. They feel the company gives unrealistic reasons for rejecting their claims.

An insurance claim rejection results in a huge loss to customer, financially, because now they have to pay the medical expenses from their wallet. This usually happens to people who have less or no idea about what is included and excluded in their policy. To know the inclusions and exclusions, a policyholder should read the terms and conditions carefully.

Let’s understand what does a health insurance policy does not cover.

                                     

What are these exclusions?

CBDT clarifies arresting of Tax Defaulters news

Certain sections of the press have been carrying news reports today that Income Tax Department is going to arrest wilful defaulters of tax.

In this regard, it is clarified that no such statement has been authorised by the Income-tax Department. Though the provisions for arrest and detention by the Tax Recovery Officers in respect of the non-compliant tax defaulters are contained in the Income-tax Act, these are used extremely sparingly.

Source: CBDT Press Release

Prime Minister shares his 'Mann ki Baat' regarding Income Declaration Scheme

The Honourable Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, in his radio programme, Mann ki Baat
aired on Sunday, 26th June, 2016, advised his countrymen about the benefits of declaring hitherto
undeclared assets under this scheme. He asked people to declare their undisclosed income and assets,
making it clear that this is the last chance to avoid problems that will follow after the window of
opportunity closes. He said no questions would be asked about the source of the undisclosed income or assets if the declaration is made voluntarily. For those having undisclosed income, the government has provided a special chance to declare it by September 30, 2016. He said by paying a penalty, those
having undisclosed money can free themselves from various kinds of burden. While exhorting those
with unaccounted incomes and assets to use this golden chance provided by the government before the window of opportunity closes on 30th September, 2016 and the government begins to take tough steps to counter tax evasion, he said:

Tax Audit applicability clarification by CBDT

Central Board of Direct Taxes
PRESS RELEASE
New Delhi, the 20th June, 2016
Sub: Threshold Limit of tax audit under section 44AB and section 44AD – clarification
 
Section 44AB of the Income-tax Act (‘the Act’) makes it obligatory for
every person carrying on business to get his accounts of any previous year
audited if his total sales, turnover or gross receipts exceed one crore rupees.

However, if an eligible person opts for presumptive taxation scheme as per section 44AD(1) of the Act, he shall not be required to get his accounts audited if the total turnover or gross receipts of the relevant previous year does not exceed two crore rupees. The higher threshold for non-audit of accounts has been given only to assessees opting for presumptive taxation scheme under section 44AD.